10th (or 11th) Grade Reading List: American Literature

Familiarity with the classics of U.S. literature helps students maintain fluency and their reading level, and encourages independent reading. Certain titles appear frequently on high-school reading lists for 10th grade (or 11th) American literature study. 

• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
• Autobiography - Benjamin Franklin
• Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
• The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
• The Crucible - Arthur Miller
• Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
• Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
• For Whom The Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
• Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
• The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Moby Dick - Herman Melville
• My Antonia - Willa Cather
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass
• Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
• Our Town - Thornton Wilder
• The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane
• The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Walden - Henry David Thoreau

Literature programs vary by school district and relative reading level, but these titles occur regularly across the country. Most general-literature programs include literature from other cultures and time periods; this list focuses exclusively on authors considered representative of American writers.

Besides being a solid reading list for high-school students, these American classics offer insight into American character and offer a shared cultural language even for adults. A well-read U.S. citizen will be familiar with most or all of these great books.